Mi Gente Cafe
“The roasted chicken just falls off the bone, the beef stew is tender, the Cuban sandwiches are made just right!”
“I almost always have the lechon, with arroz con gandules and maduros because everything has just enough garlic and grease.”
“People come for the lunch special, a choice of 1 main (about 10 different meats), 2 sides (various rices, beans, and sides) for about $8 with tax.”
Mi Gente Cafe
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
8 reviews
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Very good, if a bit of a hole in the wall. Though the abode itself is a bit run down, the food at Mi Gente cannot be beat. The pork shoulder is my favorite and is complimented so well by the homemade and slightly scary looking green sauce. It can be a tad dry, but well seasoned, so pour the sauce on. The plantains unfortunately look better than they taste so try one of the pastries instead. Service is very friendly, but they use a credit card machine from the 80s so unless you want to wait for 20 minutes, bring cash.
I love how affordable this place is, and the people are also super friendly. I had the chicken stew and I've also had the pernil before…both excellent. Love to eat them with the plantains and rice and beans. I also got the mango juice last time and it was amazing!
I love the prices, but the food left much to be desired. Maybe I went on a bad day or tried the wrong thing…
The Rundown:
-Filling
-Insanely Cheap
-Big Portions
-Fast Casual
-Grilled Chicken: Thin, Dry and Hard To Chew
-Popular With The Locals
-Flavorless, Dry Yellow Rice. I Added A Ton of Hot Sauce For Flavor/ Spice
-Absolutely Perfect Sweet Plantains- Nummy Nummy NOM
-Friendly Personable Staff
I really want to fall in love with this place, but I thought the food was mediocre at best. I think Mi Gente Cafe is worth going to, but don't go out of your way to eat here. Based on my fellow Yelper's reviews, I plan to come back and try something else sometime in the future.
When a top secret work operation took me to Newark I found myself gubbbbbin at Mi Gente.
Its a little authentic place with amazing food. We arrived around 11:50 at 12:05 the line was out the door and down the street. Lunch rush fo sho.
Lunch for 4 peeps for 40 bucks. They have a bathroom in the back thru the kitchen that they let me use. How nice nice it was pretty legit to and I got to see the operation in the kitchen, Bonus!
This is a good lunch option when you're in the area. It's a cafeteria-style place with super nice people and decent food. However, I have not yet tried anything that was really great. The beef stew in particular was a bit disappointing – dry and tough beef. It's easy to be picky and order just to your liking, and the price is certainly right. I'll stop by on occasion!
Don't order delivery from them!
They said it would take 15-20 minutes for delivery and after an hour had passed I called and they said they were on their way. 30 minutes later, I called again and said the guy came back because he couldnt find it. my office is 2 blocks down the same street and I had given directions and my phone number, just in case!
Thanks to Mi Gente, I never got to have lunch =(
Really would have loved to taste their food as the reviews are very good.
A few tips for any new-goers to Mi Gente:
1. It's not a place you trek from another state/city to. It's delicious but it's more of a lunch/breakfast joint for locals. Go if it's convenient, otherwise you'll be kicking yourself if you spent an hour getting here and realizing that it's not what you expected.
2. Try not to order the grilled chicken your first time. Instead, try their chicken stew, or even their baked chicken. Ropa vieja is a must if it's available.
3. Their cappuccinos are a bargain and DELICIOUS.
4. There are long lines during the lunch rush-hour but it goes very quickly. (10 minutes max).
5. Their tostones aren't the best but the maduros are on point. Can't go wrong with red or beans either.
6. Chicken empanadas are way better than the beef.
I've been a patron here for almost 4 years and the staff is super friendly and the food is consistently good. You end up smelling like food when you leave but it's a small price to pay for a cheap/yummy lunch in Newark.
Oh, and here's the typical ordering process:
Choose your meal size (extra small, small, or large). I personally choose the small one, the larges are the size of a typical chinese food styrofoam containers. The smalls are slightly … smaller.
Choose main entree (I recommend any of the stews, pepper steak, tilapia, or ropa vieja)
Choose 2 sides. Any will do. They're all quite good.
They also have salad, chopped fruit in the fridge, and flan! Awesome flan by the way. Well worth the money.
I'm interning in the Newark area for the summer and someone in my office recommended this place. As a pescatarian I was concerned that a Cuban restaurant wouldn't have many options, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a few fish options on the menu. The first sign of what was in store was the line out the door as we approached the restaurant. I figured of there were this many people, it must be good, and indeed it was. The lineages rather swiftly and the customer service was also very welcoming. I ordered the Tilapia lunch special which came with two sides. I chose the Maduros ( sweet plantains) and Arroz con gandules ( rice with Pidgeon peas). The total came to around $7 and it was enough food to fill up even big guy like myself. The food was very good, and even better it was cheap. I will definitely be going back to Mi Gente before my summer in Newark ends.